G'day sports fans,

Classic quote: “At the end of the day you’re a windshield or a bug.” - Mick Malthouse offers a blunt assessment of things after a West Coast win over Fremantle in 1998.

In today's edition of Sport Journal:

🏊🏼‍♀️ Next Aussie Super star

🐦 World's most expensive Racing Pigeon (yep!)

🏉 Origin III preview

...and much more!

🏉 NRL

State of Origin III: Maroons make late switches; Addo-Carr likely

In front of a packed Suncorp Stadium, Queensland (3.0) will host New South Wales (1.42) in the 2020 State of Origin decider, hoping to deny the visiting side a third straight series victory.

It’s been 15 years since the Blues last won a series decider in enemy territory – the same year they pulled off their last three-peat

The tricky thing for the Maroons is they don't have long to turn a game-two drubbing in Sydney into a match-winning performance.

Taking into account the home advantage, Queensland has been gifted a +6.5 head start by the bookies, a slightly slimmer margin than we saw heading into Game 2.

Origin III at Suncorp Stadium, Wednesday (8.10pm AEDT)

QUEENSLAND MAROONS

5. Corey Allan 19. Edrick Lee 21. Brenko Lee 4. Dane Gagai 1. Valentine Holmes 6. Cameron Munster 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Christian Welch 9. Jake Friend 10. Josh Papalii 11. Felise Kaufusi 3. Kurt Capewell 13. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 12. Jaydn Su’a 14. Harry Grant 15. Lindsay Collins 16. Jai Arrow 17. Dunamis Lui 18. Ben Hunt 20. Moeaki Fotuaika

Players cut: 2. Xavier Coates 20. Moeaki Fotuaika

NSW BLUES

1. James Tedesco (c) 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Clint Gutherson 4. Jack Wighton 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Cody Walker 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Daniel Saifiti 9. Damien Cook 10. Payne Haas 11. Angus Crichton 12. Tyson Frizell 13. Jake Trbojevic 14. Dale Finucane 15. Junior Paulo 16. Nathan Brown 17. Isaah Yeo 18. Ryan Papenhuyzen 20. Cameron McInnes

Players cut: 19. Jarome Luai 21. Nic Cotric

📈 Team Stats

• No side has ever conceded 30 points in an Origin match and come back to win the series. Queensland must defy 40 seasons of Origin history to lift the shield on Wednesday night. - @ScottBailey

• New South Wales has won the first half in seven of the last eight Origin matches.

• Six of the last nine Origin matches have gone UNDER the total match points line.

📈 Player Stats

• Valentine Holmes has been the first try-scorer in each of his two previous Origin appearances at Suncorp Stadium. (13.0)

• James Tedesco has scored at least one try in each of the last two Origin III matches. (1st -10.0)

🇦🇺 AFL

🔁 Trade Updates

Cats confirm new deals for veteran duo: Rhys Stanley and Zach Tuohy have signed contract extensions (AFL)

Big Demon defender cut: Melbourne has delisted tall defender Oscar McDonald after six seasons and 81 games for the club. (AFL)

Dual premiership player among three Dogs delisted: Western Bulldogs trio Jackson Trengove, Matt Suckling and Callum Porter have all been delisted. (AFL)

🏏 Cricket

BBL rule changes met with bemusement

What do you think about these BBL 'rule innovations'?

1. The power play, which restricts fielding positions, shortened to four overs; the batting team can take a two-over 'Power Surge' from the 11th over onwards.

2. An 'X-Factor' player can be subbed on at the 10 over mark, and can replace a player who is yet to bat, or has bowled no more than one over.

3. A 'Bash Boost' bonus point will be awarded halfway through the second innings, depending on if the chasing team is bettering their opponent's 10-over score.

At No. 1 in ESPN's #BallsOfTheCentury so far, Ryan Harris to Alastair Cook at the WACA in 2013

⚽️ Football

Tonight: Perth Glory (4.75) v Shanghai Senhua (1.75)

• This will be the first meeting between Perth Glory and Shanghai Shenhua in the AFC Champions League.

• Shanghai Shenhua have failed to win any of their last 15 games in the AFC Champions League (D9 L6) – this is the longest ever run for a Chinese team without a win in the competition and only Bunyodkor have been on a longer winless streak in the AFC Champions League (18 games without a win).

• Australian teams have only won two of their last 16 games against Chinese teams in the AFC Champions League (W2 D7 L7) – Western Sydney Wanderers vs Shanghai SIPG (3-2 in May 2017) and Melbourne Victory also against Shanghai SIPG (2-1 in April 2018).

Tomorrow: Sydney FC (5.5) v Shanghai SIPG (1.62)

👤 Team News

Sydney FC boss Steve Corica has zero fitness worries at all ahead of this game.

Shanghai: there is only the sole fitness problem for the Shanghai SIPG boss Vítor Pereira to contend with. Junling Yan (Eye Injury) misses out for this game.

✨ Prediction

Looking at these two teams, Sydney FC should be able to find the back of the net against this Shanghai SIPG lineup, although it's likely one goal won't not be enough.

Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are teaming up to buy Wrexham AFC, a 156-year old Welch Football club.

As a fan-controlled team since 2011, Wrexham AFC has a two-part bidding process.

Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney submitted an initial “vote of interest," which Wrexham Supporters Trust voted 97.5% in favor of hearing a bid from the Hollywood duo.

— They'll invest ~$3M in the club’s players and facilities.

— They'll sign a 25-yr stadium lease for ~$250k annually.

Reynolds and McElhenney plan to create a “Netflix-style” documentary series which tracks their purchase, investment in the club, and the teams journey back to prominence.

They would expect to get ~US$400k per hour of content

— For an 8-part series, they'll make ~$3.2M

— At 25% margins, they'll have ~$800k in profit.

$800k in profit would instantly make Wrexham profitable.

Since Wrexham is fan-owned, they can acquire them with no cash upfront.

🐴 Racing

Photo of the Day - Dunkeld Race course - sits at the foot of the magnificent Grampians.

Big News: New Zealand’s most successful ever racing stable of Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen to be disbanded next month.

They are leaving training ranks for sabbatical and All Stars Racing, the biggest name in harness, will cease to exist from Dec 31 this year - @GuerinSports

🐦 Racing Pigeon sells for record $2.6 million

The pigeon in Europe shattered all records in an auction

The Lewis Hamilton of racing pigeons, New Kim has shattered all records for racing pigeon sales.

According to reports, the new owner of the world’s most expensive pigeon also previously held the record after male pigeon Armando sold for $2 million in 2019.

The New York Times reports the same Chinese investor also purchased one of New Kim’s hatchlings for $970k.

The report claims the new owner could breed any potential offspring of Armando and New Kim for more than $320k.

🎾 Tennis

BARTY #1

Ash Barty was confirmed as the year-end world number one, for the second consecutive season, after the WTA Tour published its final rankings today.

ATP Finals

Top seed Novak Djokovic started his bid for a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title with a classy win over Argentine debutant Diego Schwartzman.

The 33-year-old Serb, who has not won the event since 2015, eased to a 6-3 6-2 victory at the O2 Arena in London.

Dominic Thiem came out on top in a high-quality match to beat Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals.

The Austrian won 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4) for his second victory of the season-ending event at the O2 Arena in London.

Nadal had two set points in the first-set tie-break but could not convert with Thiem eventually securing victory on his fourth match point.

Stefanos Tsitsipas plays Andrey Rublev in today's match of Group London 2020 at about 07:00.

If defending champion Tsitsipas wins, Thiem will be into the semi-finals before his final match of the round-robin stage.

🤔 Australian Open Bubble

More than a hundred tennis stars will be housed in a Victorian bubble to make the Australian Open as COVID-safe as possible.

What do you think? Will the players be prepared to follow the rules? (ABC)

🏉 Rugby

Latest injury setback rules O’Connor out against Argentina

The Wallabies will be without James O’Connor for Saturday night’s crucial clash against high-flying Argentina.

O’Connor, who missed the last two Bledisloe Cup matches due to a knee injury, has been ruled out of the match because of a foot problem.

Reece Hodge will almost certainly retain the 10 jersey. (Rugby)

🏊🏼‍♀️ Swimming

There's some phenomenal talent coming through in Australian swimming!

19-year-old Kaylee McKeown recently broke Australian records in the 100m and 200m backstroke - and in the latter also broke the Commonwealth record, swimming the fourth fastest time in history!

🥇Paralympics

Aussie paralympian Kelly Cartwright is back on the track after eight years!

Cartwright won gold in the long jump and silver in the T42 100m at the 2012 London Paralympics.

🏋🏽‍♂️ Strong Man

24 year-old Ukrainian Okleksii Novikov was named 2020 World's Strongest Man on Monday after breaking the world record with a 1,185-pound partial deadlift.

🇺🇸 USA

🏈 In case you missed it: Arizona Cardinals sealed a 32-30 win with a 43-yard Hail Mary at the death.

🔥 This got me Fired up!

📺 Live sport 👇🏼

⚽️ 06:45UEFA Nations League Group Stage;

• Croatia v Portugal (Optus Sport 2)

• France v Sweden (Optus Sport 3)

• Luxembourg v Azerbaijan (Optus Sport 6)

• Montenegro v Cyprus (Optus Sport 5)

• Spain v Germany (Optus Sport 1)

• Switzerland v Ukraine (Optus Sport 4)

🎾 07:00 - ATP World Tour Finals - Stefanos Tsitsipas v Andrey Rublev (ESPN 2)

⚽️ 08:00 - CONMEBOL WC Qualifier - Venezuela v Chile (BeIN Sports 1)

⚽️ 08:00 - CONMEBOL WC Qualifier - Ecuador v Colombia (BeIN Sports 2)

🏏 09:30 - Women's Big Bash League - Brisbane Heat Women v Perth Scorchers Women (Kayo Sports)

⚽️ 10:00 - CONMEBOL WC Qualifier - Uruguay v Brazil (BeIN Sports 1)

⚽️ 10:00 - CONMEBOL WC Qualifier - Paraguay v Bolivia (BeIN Sports 3)

⚽️ 11:30 - CONMEBOL WC Qualifier - Peru v Argentina (BeIN Sports 2)

🏏 14:30 - Women's Big Bash League - Melbourne Stars Women v Hobart Hurricanes Women (Kayo Sports)

🏏 14:30 - Women's Big Bash League - Adelaide Strikers Women v Melb. Renegades Women (Fox Cricket)

⛹🏻‍♀️ 18:05 - WNBL Regular Season - Melbourne Boomers v UC Capitals (Kayo Sports)

🏏 19:05 - Women's Big Bash League - Sydney Thunder Women v Sydney Sixers Women (Fox Cricket)

⛹🏻‍♀️ 20:05 - WNBL Regular Season - Bendigo Spirit v Perth Lynx (Kayo Sports)

🏉 20:10 - State of Origin - Queensland Origin v New South Wales Origin (Nine)

⚽️ 21:00 - AFC Champions League Group - Perth Glory v Shanghai Shenhua (Fox Sports More)

🏌🏼‍♀️ 23:00 - Ladies European Tour - Saudi Ladies Team International, Round 2 (Fox Sports)

THURSDAY

🎾 01:00 - ATP World Tour Finals (ESPN 2)

⚽️ 02:00 - UEFA Nations League Group Stage - Albania v Belarus (Optus Sport 1)

⚽️ 02:00 - UEFA Nations League Group Stage - Kazakhstan v Lithuania (Optus Sport 2)

🎯 02:00 - PDC Grand Slam of Darts (Fox Sports)

⚽️ 04:00 - UEFA Nations League Group Stage - Armenia v North Macedonia (Optus Sport 2)

⚽️ 04:00 - UEFA Nations League Group Stage - Georgia v Estonia (Optus Sport 1)

🎮 06:30 - F1 Esports Pro Series (Fox Sports)

⚽️ 06:45 - UEFA Nations League Group Stage:

• Belgium v Denmark (Optus Sport 2)

• England v Iceland (Optus Sport 1)

• Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy (Optus Sport 4)

• Poland v Netherlands (Optus Sport 3)

• Northern Ireland v Romania (Optus Sport 5)

• Czech Republic v Slovakia (Optus Sport 6)

🎾 07:00 - ATP World Tour Finals (ESPN 2)

🏀 11:00 - NBA Draft (ESPN 1)

🏈 11:00 - NCAA - Central Michigan Chippewas v Western Michigan Broncos (ESPN 2)

⛳️ 18:00 - European Tour, Joburg Open, Round 1 (Fox Sports)

⛹🏻‍♀️ 19:05 - WNBL Regular Season - Southside Flyers v Townsville Fire (Fox Sports More)

⚽️ 21:00 - AFC Champions League Group - Sydney FC v Shanghai SIPG (Fox Sports)

⛹🏻‍♀️ 21:05 - WNBL Regular Season - Sydney Uni. Flames v Adelaide Lightning (Kayo Sports)

🏌🏼‍♀️ 23:00 - Saudi Ladies Team International (Fox Sports)

At No. 1 in ESPN #BallsOfTheCentury so far, @r_harris413

to Alastair Cook at the WACA in 2013

At No. 1 in ESPN's #BallsOfTheCentury so far, Ryan Harris to Alastair Cook at the WACA in 2013

At No. 1 in ESPN's #BallsOfTheCentury so far, @r_harris413

to Alastair Cook at the WACA in 2013